After (almost<\/em>)\u00a0two years happily thrashing my hardtail Fat Boy<\/a> around the trails of Rochdale, Littleborough and further afield, I gradually came to the decision that I wanted a bit more bike. \u00a0Since I decided to buy the Fat Boy, my mileage has increased and with it, the amount of time I spend thinking about bikes in general.<\/p>\n I toyed with the idea of going roadie at one point. \u00a0A neighbour offered me a good bike at an excellent price but after much soul-searching I decided that mountain biking was my true love. \u00a0I’m lucky enough to live in the foothills of the\u00a0Pennines, not very far from where Singletrack Magazine<\/a> is based, so their features and photos never fail to inspire me to get out into the hills where I live.<\/p>\n So, I started to look around and to think about buying options. \u00a0My research was in-depth and extensive. \u00a0But I’m not writing about the purchasing process here: I’ll do that in another post. \u00a0This one’s all about the bike.<\/p>\n With much advice, much checking, much thought and much procrastination, I decided that I definitely needed a 120mm full-suspension steed. \u00a0Any more would be too big a step and the bike would be bigger than both my talents and my usual trails.<\/p>\n Merida are arguably the biggest bike company in the world. \u00a0They hold a 48% stake in Specialized (apparently<\/em>) and their Taiwanese operation turns out huge numbers of bikes of all shapes & sizes. \u00a0Their MTB design team is German-led and the\u00a0mountain\u00a0bikes seem ideally designed for European conditions.<\/p>\n\n\t\tMerida One Twenty 800 D Carbon 2011<\/h2>\n